Don't kid yourself that you have time. You don't, you need to have a review done by yr1, experiments carried out and result to present yr2, further direction yr3, publish, publish, publish

Needless to say that wasn't possible so I worked and struggled through the write up with very little help from him and it took two years due to 'communication' problems with my 2nd super. It'll be hard but you can do it.

I was in the lab until my funding ended. Had to get a job to pay the bills while writing up but this did not go down well with my industry supervisor who thought I should take a year out to write up.

To me it sounds like your location may be a bigger issue than your age. Most UK PhDs are RC funded and age is not a deciding factor. But you may need to relocate. Good luck!

What are your qualifications for proofreading? And why hasn't your course prepared you for applying for these such jobs?

You may be/feel angry but imho you shouldn't. Just because you are doing 'different' work to the other student does not make you more important/first author over them when it could be their idea/study design.

My first thought is you are likely to pass with minors!! But on a serious note, the external will be an expert in the field which is probably why they become first port of call for your supervisor. Nothing to worry about.

If you have to published papers you have more than some PhD holders. Just push forward with your write up, submit and move on to a better project/department/career. You've earned it after years of work.

Projects can be handed off because you no longer have the time to start/complete the new line of research, and also because it can secure further funding for the dept. Don't take that to heart.

A 2.2 will rule you out unless you have an MSc which then becomes more important than your 2.2 especially if you achieve a merit or distinction.

Just because you get the chance to interview doesn't mean you get the job, I've been beat out by people with more years experience. That actually counts in industry against people leaving academic research roles.

Remember if you were still studying you wouldn't be available for the role you interview for. Explain you'd learnt as much as you could and wanted to move your career on and the job you interview is perfect.

As someone recently doing a round of job interviews, those questions are few and far between. If you can nail down the job requirements, show you are suited to the job, the whys don't matter as much.

Just don't go into lots of detail about any research you carried out. I'm not saying dumb down but I do know of employers binning CV with higher degrees on them for fear they clearly won't stay.

Don't lie exactly but make your CV relevent to the job you are applying for. Being a recent student is good, no need to explain what level you studies at. Service jobs are filled with students so you should be fine.